23 DECEMBER 1876, Page 3

In Dr. Schliemann's exceedingly interesting account of his excavationsat what

is called the tomb of Agamemnon at Mycenael he tells us that he has, to his own satisfaction at-all events, con- vinced himself that the large golden masks found on the faces of those buried in this tomb are carefully-made likenesses of the persons there interred. "All the three masks [in the principal tomb] are made with marvellous art, and one fancies that one can see there all the hairs of the eyebrows -and whiskers. Each mask shows so widely different a physiognomy from the others, and so altogether different from the ideal types of the statues of gods and heroes, that there can be no doubt that every one of them faithfully represents the likeness of the deceased hero whose face it covers. Were it not so, all the masks would show the very same ideal type. One of the masks shows a small mouth, a long nose, large eyes, and a large head ; another a very large mouth, nose, and head ; the third a small head, mouth, and nose." It would indeed be a curious discovery to find an authentic likeness of so mythical a hero as is Agamemnon. But what was the motive of the practice of covering death with a golden mask ? Did it convey irony or hope, or merely indicate the magnificence of the deceased ? Did it indicate that even grand decay covets a golden screen, or that the face of death gazes into a world of golden hopes, or simply that the man was grand enough to have a very costly burial ?